This update adds a new island tile consisting of 3 main islands and quite a few smaller outcrops. The islands are based on the real world location of Stot, Svenningen and Helloya which are located off the coast of Norway.
There is currently a single port on Svenningen.
The islands are not yet complete to the same level as the other islands, but the port does work and is tied into the "Quick Job" network. I haven't done too much detail work on this area as I'm using some new assets which will require a bit of a rework to optimise them and I'll end up having to redo everything once that is done anyway.
However, the islands look Ok for the moment.
RADAR!
All vessels now have a working RADAR which will pick up land and rocks and is fairly accurate to how real RADAR works on boats. It has a fixed range of 4km and the RADAR sweeps about every 2 seconds.
UPDATED WEATHER
I've added a range of visibility ranges to the weather system so it will now randomly pick from 1 of 9 different conditions from CLEAR all the way through to DENSE FOG.
The fog is not volumetric at the moment - it is purely distance, but I will be adding proper volumetric fog shortly so you will be able to sail through what will effectively be low lying clouds.
OTHER FIXES/UPDATES
1. All ports are now working correctly and are tied into the "Quick Job" cargo network. Don't for get to load you boat before leaving port!
2. Ocean fidelity has been increased so that waves are more detailed and move more like proper water. As a result, boats now have more buoyancy information to work with so should react even more realistically to water displacement.
3. All water particle effects have be swapped from meshes to billboards as they look better and run faster!
4. Fixed a lot of incorrect LOD zones which should increase performance across the board. You may see some pop up due to the larger 15km draw distance but it should be minimal.
5. Tweaked the FerryCat's rudder and bow thruster forces so it should be a little more responsive. Skilled captains will now be able to make it turn almost on the spot with clever usage of the rudder, throttle and bow thrusters.
6. Adjusted the default seating position in the FerryCat
7. All map images have now been updated with depth charts.
8. Engine noise will now work correctly when accelerating in reverse gear rather than it sounding like your getting slower and slower!
9. Long Island has been removed - it was just too big and there was no way I could ever cover that amount of land mass!
KNOWN ISSUES
1. I still think there may be a crash occurring when entering Fornells harbour on Menorca. I have a suspicion it may be cause by either the buoys or the structures on Monte Torro in the distance.
As such, I've disabled Monte Torro. Please let me know if you experience anything around Fornells.
FUTURE UPDATES
This version will be pushed out to the live branch at some point over the weekend once I have updated the store page to reflect to changes in game direction.
Once that is done I shall be focusing on the following areas over the next few weeks...
1. Damage and Maintenance
2. Fuel usage
3. Visible cargo
That's it for the moment. As always, your feeback always welcome :)
Happy Boating!